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Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival  by David Pilling, Penguin Books, 2015.  Essence of Being Japanese Much of the book is devoted to trying to understand the essence of being Japanese. The Japanese believe that they are unique, but they cannot quite explain in what way. They are artistic, sensitive to nature, and believe in harmony. They are not individualists, like the Americans. The theory of their uniqueness is called Nihonjinron. In some ways, the Japanese b

Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan  by Jake Adelstein, Pantheon Books, 2009. American Crime Reporter in Tokyo An American reporter covers crime in Tokyo. The way he obtained information from the police as to befriend particular policemen, including buying gifts for the cop’s children. Most of the crimes he investigated were committed by organized crime. 1990s and 2000s. Also domestic violence. Yakuza has a strong presence in real estate. The author l

A Craftsman’s Legacy: Why Working with Our Hands Gives Us Meaning by Eric Gorges with Jon Sternfeld, Algonquin Books , 2019. PBS & Motorcycles The author has a PBS show with the same title as this book. He also runs a busibness called Voodoo Choppers, which makes custom motorcycles. Topics Ceramics, art glass, stoneware, metal work (copper, brass, steel, silver, gold) Stone carving Sword smithing Custom clocks Knitting Woodworking Furniture making Make musical instruments

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work by Matthew B. Crawford, Penguin Books, Reprint, Paperback,, 2010.

Deadliest Sea: The Untold Story Behind the Greatest Rescue in Coast Guard History by Kalee Thompson, William Morrow, Hardcover, 2010.

Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China  by Fuchsia Dunlop, W. W. Norton & Company, 2009.  Chengdu A colorfully written memoir of an Englishwoman learning the art of Chinese cooking in Chengdu. Chengdu is the capital of the province of Sichuan, in the interior of China. She also spent time in Chongqing, which is the eastern neighbor of Sichuan. At the time of the author’s visit, in the 1990s, Westerners were rare in Sichuan. Dunlop writes very e

Blind Descent: The Quest to Determine the Deepest Place on Earth  by James M. Tabor, Random House, 2010.  Deep Caves This is about the competition to find the deepest cave on Earth. It focuses mainly on Oaxaca State in Mexico and the Caucasus Mountains.  Note: Aguacate & Charco & Cheve are neighboring caves in the Sierra Juárez mountains in Oaxaca, Mexico. Diving One of the main challenges in exploring deep caves is the sumps: parts of caves that are filled with water. This

American OZ: An Astonishing Year Inside Traveling Carnivals at State Fairs & Festivals: Hitchhiking From California to New York, Alaska to Mexico  by Michael Sean Comerford, Comerford Publishing, 2021.  Carnie Memoir This is a memoir of a man who worked at carnivals in Alaska, Mexico, California. He hitchhiked between hobs. The Museum of American Carnivals is south of Tampa, Florida. Jointees run games and ride jockeys run rides. Freak sideshows are rarely found these days, d

Honeybee Democracy by Thomas D. Seeley,Princeton University Press, 2010.

The Secret Lives of Bats: My Adventures with the World's Most Misunderstood Mammals  by Merlin Tuttle, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015.

In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom  by Qanta Ahmed, Sourcebooks, 2008. Pakistani Doctor The author of this memoir is a Pakistani Muslim doctor. While living in New York City, she completed residencies and fellowships in Internal Medicine, Pulmonology, Critical Care and Sleep Disorders.  Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia’s oil wealth has allowed many of its men to travel abroad and become more cosmopolitan and liberal. The educated, professi

Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century  by Charles King, Vintage Books Edition, 2019.  Anthropology Comes to America Franz Boas was a German Jew who emigrated to America. He founded anthropology in America. Boas did field work on Canada's Baffin Island with the indigenous Inuits. He also visited Canada's Vancouver Island, where he studied: the Tlingit and Kwakiutl indigenous peoples. Issues Add

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, ad the Collision of Two Cultures  by Anne  Fadiman, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997.  Culture Clash The book is about a culture clash between a Hmong family with an epileptic little girl, Lia Lee, living in Merced, California during the 1980s. Hmong have Shamans and believe in spirits called dabs. The Hmong saw epilepsy as a spirit inhabiting the little girl. Western Medicine There were communicati

Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years With a Midwife in Mali  by Kris Holloway (Author), John Bidwell (Contributor), Waveland Press, 2012.  Monique Dembele Peace Corps volunteer Kris Holloway talks about her time with Monique Dembele, a midwife in Mali. Besides helping with childbirth, Monique repaired skin tears from childbirth, helped women who were the victims of domestic violence, educated patients about the importance of clean water, and treated infectious diseases, suc

Birth Day: A Pediatrician Explores the Science, the History, and the Wonder of Childbirth by Mark Sloan. Ballantine Books (2009)  APGAR Score The author is a pediatrician who specializes in taking care of newborn babies who have problems after childbirth. He evaluates newborns with the APGAR scores developed by Virginia Apgar. It evaluate babies for 5 qualities:  Muscle tone Pulse Reflex irritability Skin color Breathing effort Blood Flow There is is an interesting descriptio

The Eaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars  by Andrew X. Pham, Harmony (2008)  Author’s Father This book is about the life of Pham Van Thong, the father of the author, Andrew X. Pham. The book describes Thong’s childhood in North Vietnam during the 1940s and 1950s, and his adulthood in South Vietnam during the 1960s and 1970s. So you get to see what life was like under the French, the Japanese, Viet Minh and the South Vietnamese government. The chapters alternate between his c

Fear No Evil by Natan Sharansky, PublicAffairs, 1998.

Speechless: Controlling Words, Controlling Minds  by Michael Knowles, Regnery Publishing, 2021. Subverting the Will of the Voters The political Left is using three methods for attaining power by subverting the will of the voters: The Judiciary The  Administrative State Language Speech and Violence When leftists stage violent protests, leftists call it speech. When rightist say things that are not politically correct, leftists call it violence. The left is blurring the distinc

Social Justice Fallacies  by Thomas Sowell, Basic Books (2023)

Discrimination and Disparities  by Thomas Sowell, Basic Books; Revised and Enlarged Edition (2019)  Sowell objects to attributing all of the cause of disparities between the prosperity of various ethnic groups to discrimination. He lists several other causes of disparities:  Birth order Median age Marriage Cultural values Homicide rates Minimum wage laws